Damage at Monai, west Okushiri Island

Commander Dennis J. Sigrist International Tsunami Information Center

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The village of Monai, west Okushiri Island. Except for a few houses on the bluff (not visible) the community was completely destroyed by the tsunami waves. The waves reached an elevation of nearly 20 m above sea level, flooding 300 m inland. Ten persons were killed and 12 houses were destroyed.

On July 12, 1993, a magnitude 7.6 Ms (7.7 Mw) (HRV) earthquake at 13:17 UT in the Sea of Japan near Hokkaido caused a back-arc tsunami that caused damage in all of the countries bordering the Sea of Japan. The earthquake had a rupture length of 150 kilometers, a movement of 2.5 meters and a dip to the east of 24 degrees. The tsunami was 32 meters high on Okishuri, Island, where the most destruction occurred. The whole island subsided by 5-80 centimeters.